Pound Out the Pounds

What's New:

If (but, of course, not only if) you have a naturally aggressive client looking to lose weight or boost his fitness, you can address both issues simultaneously by having him don a pair of boxing gloves.

In a study published in the February 2003 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 12 boxing-trained men and six boxing-trained women ages 19 to 25 participated in randomized 2-minute fitness boxing trials at various tempos, wearing 0.34-kg punching gloves. The researchers continuously measured the subjects’ oxygen uptake, heart rate and ventilation during each trial and recorded their rating of perceived exertion (RPE) after each trial. The athletes’ oxygen uptake during the boxing trials ranged from 67.7 percent to 72.5 percent of their maximal oxygen uptake, and their heart rates ranged from 85 percent to 93 percent of their maximal heart rates.

Although, between the different boxing trials, no significant differences in oxygen uptake were observed, significant variations in heart rate, ventilation and RPE were noted. These variations certainly were reflected in the ultimate outcome of the study: The athletes’ energy expenditure ranged from 9.8 kilocalories per minute to 11.2 kilocalories per minute for the different boxing trials. Consequently, the researchers concluded, “These results suggest that fitness boxing programs compare favorably with other exercise modalities in cardiovascular response and caloric expenditure.”